Breakfast of champions. We slept well though it was incredibly cold in the hotel. We woke up in a rush to get dressed and ready since it was still about 55 degrees in the room. This was the first time I looked forward to putting my motorcycle pants on in order to get warm. I stopped by Cafe Azul to grab a nice cup of coffee before the way out. Pretty good place but with American prices. We took some pics of the motorcycle in Real de Catorce and then made our way back through the tunnel and back down the 18 mile cobblestone road. The ride was much easier than it was the day before which confirmed our fears the day before had been unnecessary. Our route was to head towards Zacatecas, and would be a 4 hour drive.
On the way there the Joshua trees that surrounded Real de Catorce slowly vanished, and were replaced by never ending cactus plants instead. We stopped again for lunch at a truck/bus stop which proved to satisfying. Eric and I had made a joke just a day ago about Gloria (a Columbian woman), an actress in the TV show Modern Family being a good actress for Hispanic soaps, and ironically enough there she was on the TV playing in a soap while we were eating lunch.
It was a good ride to Zacatecas, another old mining town but with a 300,000 plus population. The town was surprising modern and beautiful. In entering the downtown area of Zacatecas I suddenly felt like I was in Europe but with the smell of Mexican food stands all around. We checked into the Hotel Mission with no problem and headed up to unpack. Since we arrived in Zacatecas early, around 2pm, I decided to take the opportunity to shower and wash my 36 hour old hair, which a delayed washing in Real de Catorce since it was freezing in our hotel room.
We decided to stay two nights in zacatecas since it was so big, modern, and had a few touristy things we could do the following day. We thought this was a good opportunity to catch up on some blogging and business we needed to take care of. The rest of the night we walked a few miles in order to check out the town, ate some pretty good tacos for dinner, and called it an early night.
I had been looking for these dehydrated spicy mango's since we arrived in Mexico. While in Baja I used to eat spicy mango's all the time. These aren't quite the same, but they will do for now.
Before we went out for the night and while I was doing homework, I told Eric how much I loved the music coming from the streets and how much I loved Mexico. Little did I know there was a very happpening kareoke bar right down the street from out hotel room that was open until about 1am. My solution: a pair of really good earplugs and some sleeping medication:
I had never had this type of wine before but it was excellent. I recommend a try.
The following day we woke up to a surprisingly fantastic free breakfast. We knew breakfast was included in our price per night, but had no idea the spread would be so grand. It was nice to get some fruit into our bodies since the last few days have mainly consisted of fats and booze.
After breakfast we went to explore an old silver mining cave that is now a museum. We took a tour that talked about the history of the mining and had some pieces of silver out on display. The tour started at one spot, and ended in another where a cable car ride was located which allowed a nice ride over the city and up to a mountain peak. This was a great ride for nice views and good pics, and a nice walk down into the city again. Since I had some assignments to complete, we decided to call it a day and went back to the hotel so I could get to work and Eric could start some maintenance on the bike. We wanted to make sure things were holding on after the trip to Real de Catorce. As it turns out, one of the bolts came loose from the rear rack and Eric spent the night looking for a replacement and fixing the rack. He also topped of some fluids and checked to tire pressure so ascertain we were in perfect riding condition.
We both got done around 8 pm with bike maintenance and homework and finally went out to get some food. Little did we know most places close around 8 and we walked around town for a good hour looking for somewhere to eat. Finally we decided to head back to the main strip where our hotel was and found a tostada street vendor and were psyched..We both ordered tostadas and went to sit and watch a street busker preform with a hefty crowd while we ate. To our disappointment, the tostadas were terrible, and consisted of a really good pork rind tostada plate with lettuce, tomato, pico de gallo, some sort of cream sauce and tendon (we think). We tried eating most if it but both agreed it was terrible enough to throw them away and start over. We searched and searched for other local options, but as it turns out McDonald's was the winner of the night. A quarter pounder and a chicken sandwich would wrap up our last night in Zacatecas. This was both an embarrassing moment and a moment of education for us; now know to start looking for dinner before 8pm.
Really cute dog watching us as we walked by, hard to see at first glance.
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